"Dave Allen, Benny Hill lewd? Yeah, you bet. In the right company," he explained to The Sunday Telegraph of his sense of humour.

"The lewdness I am surrounded by on a show like Rocky Horror is, as they say on Spinal Tap, 11. I might be operating on 10, but all around me … in the lewd department, I am nothing compared with what's surrounding me. As the old boy, I don't come close in the filth department.

"Does being cheeky and naughty equate with being a bully? No, it does not," he said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. "By God I will fight this. And the truth, the truth will come out."